Auticon awarded IQ prize on World Autism Day

Auticon Team Berlin with the IQ award 2013.

Matching the World Autism Day theme on the 2nd of April, Mensa’s German national group has awarded Auticon its renowned IQ prize for 2013. Auticon is the first German enterprise to exclusively employ people on the autism spectrum in the field of IT quality assurance. According to Mensa, Auticon has positively affected societal views of autism and intelligence, and significantly contributed to raising awareness of autism-specific strengths and talent.

Berlin, 01.04.2014

The German national group of the internationally active high IQ society Mensa awarded Auticon with its IQ prize for 2013. ‘Our members were won over by the Auticon concept to focus on autism-related strengths rather than difficulties. Auticon has significantly contributed to a positive public perception of highly intelligent individuals’, explains Matthias Moehl, Mensa chairman.

‘We are extremely pleased to be awarded the IQ prize 2013’, says Dirk Müller-Remus, Auticon founder and managing director. The 2011 established enterprise employs people on the autism spectrum as IT specialists with a focus on quality assurance. Auticon consultants test and optimise external client’s software. ‘This award acknowledges that we are on the right track to creating a more inclusive labour market. The special skills and talents of autistic employees are increasingly recognised by society’ continues Müller-Remus, who has an adult son on the autism spectrum.

Auticon is now one of the prestigious institutions and individuals who have received an IQ prize in previous years. Amongst others, Mensa honoured Ranga Yogeshwar and Günther Jauch’s publication ‘Spektrum der Wissenschaft (Science Spectrum)’.

Since 2004 Mensa’s German national group annually awards IQ prizes to individuals or institutions that advance society through intelligent ideas, promote relevant research or enhance public perceptions of human intelligence.

The special feature of this prize is that it isn’t awarded by a jury but by all Mensa society members, who democratically vote for proposed candidates.

Auticon received the award Spring 2014, matching the World Autism Day theme. ‘The prize as well as World Autism Day are hugely important for our enterprise. Both advance our efforts to raise awareness of autism-specific strengths and talents’ adds Müller-Remus.

‘There currently is a very strong focus on what people with autism can’t do. We are determined to shift that focus towards a more positive perception of autistic characteristics, such as logical thinking and an eye for detail’.

Since 2008 World Autism Day is being held annually on the 2nd of April in all United Nations member states. The main goal hereby is to raise and increase public awareness of autism.

Mensa in Deutschland e.V. (MinD):

Mensa is the largest international society for individuals with above average intelligence. Mensa comprises 110.000 members of all ages and connects highly gifted persons with one another. One of Mensa’s main goals, embedded in Mensa’s international charter, is promoting research into human intelligence. Mensa’s German national group has been founded in 1979. Member numbers have grown from 45 in 1981 to 11.000 today.

Auticon GmbH:

The November 2011 founded social enterprise aims to create an increasingly inclusive labour market and directly employs neurodiverse IT specialists. By being a social enterprise rather than a charity, auction links entrepreneurial standards with a social motivation and thus creates a sustainable impact. Auticon is the first enterprise of its kind in Germany and currently runs offices in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Munich, Frankfurt and Stuttgart. In 2012 Auticon has been awarded the prestigious ‘GründerChampion’ prize for start-ups by the German development bank KfW.